Local leaders ask Vistra and PG&E to keep plants turned off indefinitely
A fire rages out of control at the Vistra battery storage plant, one of the world’s largest, in Moss Landing, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. Five days after a huge fire at one of the world’s largest battery storage plants in Moss Landing, Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for an investigation into the blaze, which has jolted California’s renewable energy industry.
Meanwhile local leaders on Tuesday asked the two companies that operate at the site to shut their battery storage facilities there down indefinitely until the cause of the fire can be discovered and steps can be taken to reduce the risk of another. The vote came after a tense three-hour-long meeting at which dozens of residents of North Monterey County raised questions about health impacts to their families from the dramatic fire, possible lingering pollution in water and soil, how the facilities were given county permits to open, and how safety will be improved.
Fire crews did not engage with the fire but rather waited for it to burn out on its own. Lithium battery fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish. They burn at high temperatures and can emit toxic gases that can cause respiratory problems, skin burns and eye irritation. This fire was much larger, however. Vistra and fire officials say it destroyed nearly all of the 300-megawatt portion of the site. A megawatt is enough electricity to power 750 homes.Vistra’s Ziegler said company officials have not yet been able to begin their inspection because some of the batteries are still smoldering.
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